Posts in "TSA"

Back in 2009, a college kid named Nicholas George was arrested by the TSA in Philly as he attempted to board his plane. Their excuse? He was learning Arabic in school, and had brought along flashcards to study on the trip.

His interested in Arabic stemmed from a desired career in — you guessed it — counter-terrorism. So needless to say, the cards included “phrases like ‘bomb,’ ‘terrorist,’ ‘explosion,’ and ‘to target.’” Seeing right through this transparent terrorist plot, the TSA pounced!

Here’s an actual conversation that occurred in the process of his arrest:

TSA AGENT: Do you know who did 9/11?

GEORGE: Osama bin Laden.

TSA AGENT: Do you know what language he spoke?

GEORGE: Arabic.

TSA AGENT: Do you see why these cards are suspicious?

The lesson, of course, is that we should never speak or study the language of anyone who ever did or planned terrible things. German students, be silent! From now on, I know I’ll be ommunicating-cay exclusively-ay in-ay ig-Pay atin-Lay, e-thay ue-tray anguage-lay of-ay innocence-ay.

But seriously, this is an appalling example of the TSA’s true function: security theater. The agents certainly may have meant well, but their entire operation has been shown timeandagain to be

A recent Bloomberg piece brings up an agency of especially sore repute among libertarians (not to say that there are many agencies of good repute) and looks into a Republican Party "solution" in dealing with some problems facing that agency.

The agency is the TSA. The problem is theft; or, "sticky fingers" as Bloomberg puts it. The "solution" is privatization.

First created in late 2001 as a reactionary effort to simply "do something" immediately following the September 11 attacks, the TSA has rightly been the topic of much outcry among libertarians, and other liberty lovers across the political spectrum. Perhaps my favorite blogger on all things TSA is the ever-enthusiastic Becky Akers, who writes over at the Lew Rockwell Column.

We hold that the TSA should not exist. It is completely beyond the jurisdiction of the United States federal government to involve its bureaucratic police force in every single airport in the United States. The Bloomberg piece notes that the problem the TSA faces recently is large quantities of charges for theft.

Everyone knows the TSA is in the business of making us drink the last drop of our open water bottles and patting down our potentially dangerous grandmothers, but did you know they are also inspecting parked vehicles at airports around the country? That's right America, everyone's favorite government safety squad is now making sure you aren't a potential car bomber.

Laurie Iacuzza returned to her parked vehicle at Greater Rochester International Airport in Rochester, NY to find a notice informing her that her car had been searched by the TSA. Iacuzza was understandably frustrated, claiming that no one ever informed her that her car was going to be searched when she dropped it off with valet parking services at the airport.

In response to Friday’s tragic shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, Twitter users took to their timelines to express their worry. Their concern was: how will government respond to this event?

Far from demanding total security and safety, many Twitter users, already upset by TSA pat downs and screenings at airports, feared the same treatment could come to cinemas. Here are a few responses. Matt Johnson wrote:

I swear, if I have to go through TSA style security to get into a movie theater I will never go again.

Prediction: TSA at every movie theater by year’s end. It’s for our own good you know

Some are welcoming new security measures, both private and run by government. AMC Theaters has already banned costumes and face coverings in their theaters. Others are directly welcoming of increased TSA and/or police presence in movie theaters.

The TSA search requirements may no longer be the only restriction on travel in the US. According to this article on MSN Money, new legislation is looking to prevent Americans from leaving the country if they owe more than $50,000 dollars in taxes. The legislation in question is Senate Bill 1813, which passed the Senate back in April 74-22. If passed, the law would revoke the passports of people who owe the IRS large sums of money.

NB: This report is a little late, but we still wanted to share it with you!

The week after spring break, the YAL chapter at Georgia College and State University decided to stop and frisk random strangers on campus. Unlike the TSA, we asked for consent first. Most people said "no" because they don't like getting felt up by strangers. Who knew? We asked people to remove their shoelaces because they were a "safety hazard" (because you can strangle someone with them). They claimed that was absurd reasoning. Of course, imitating TSA officers, we simply claimed that it was in their best interest.

YAL at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign held a TSA: Gone Wild event on the Main Quad last Thursday. "Free Freedom Frisks! Patriotic Patdowns!" I chanted as hordes of students power-walked across the quad. Most people got a laugh out of it, and we had plenty of double takes.

I was just really amazed at how many people just didn't get understand that we were a parody of the TSA. Dressed in the classic "Airport Strip Search Unit" uniform, I was mistaken for a police officer, a pilot, and a security guard. Many international students had no idea what the TSA was, so we had quite the experience trying to explain why we were protesting. Other students actually thought we were the TSA for a good 10 seconds and took their backpacks off.

We had a few students stop and ask some in-depth questions, and several fellow liberty-lovers were happy to find out that our group existed on campus. We're always happy to find new members! While many undergrads were used to groups tabling on the quad, the prospective student tour groups had a blast with our table. I was handing out the colored beads, and I could attract whole crowds with a single cry of "Get searched and get beads!"

On February 29th the Young Americans for Liberty at UCF held our first activism event of the semester, Government Gone Wild. In less than a week, we built a 7' x 3' faux body scanner and made 300 4th Amendment luggage tags.

We set up our activism event in front of the Student Union and placed the scanner in a high traffic area to generate discussion. We also used freezer pops to get attention from students on a hot Florida day. Once students were at our tent, we informed them about their constitutional rights while traveling and steps they can take to preserve those rights. Then we invited the students to a screening of "10 Rules with Dealing with the Police."

The Young Americans for Liberty at the University of Colorado at Boulder protested the TSA during the last week of school before spring break! We constructed a mock body scanner, had a member dressed up as an agent, and displayed a large poster of the 4th Amendment. In addition to getting a lot of sign-ups for their email list, YAL @ CU distributed flyers giving information about both the TSA and their student group. When YAL member Alexis Olson had to go through the TSA herself the next day, she carried the the oversized 4th Amendment with her to the sound of a cheering crowd!

YAL's National Activism Project for this month, "Government Gone Wild: Spring Break with the TSA," is underway, and I have some additional resources for chapters that haven't had their event yet, including: infographics, new relevant news stories, and information with supporting evidence to help inform students about their rights and how they're being violated -- because if we don't know and exercise our rights, we encourage government to go even wilder.

First, there are two infographics about the TSA that can be easily&cheaply made into a large display by using Posterazor (the same free software recommended in the 'Build Your 5 Rights Display' guide) to simply print out several 8x11 sheets of paper one at a time, cut off the overlapping parts of the paper, and assembling them together with glue or tape:

Left infographic provided by: OnlineCriminalJusticeDegree.com.

Here are some examples of the many ways government has gone wild, with links to supporting evidence: No knock raids. Warrantless searches and seizures. Murder of non-violent civilians and pets (!).